A PERFECT RECORD-BREAKING NIGHT
MEDFORD’S NEW ALL-TIME SCORING LEADER
All contribute; Raiders close in on GNC repeat
For the second time this season, Medford senior Peyton Kuhn knew most everyone in the socially-distant stands were keeping a close eye on his stats, and for the second time he delivered Friday night with a memorable 3-point shot.
Kuhn’s final points in the second half of a 77-33 blowout win over Tomahawk came on a 3-pointer from the top of key and put him at 1,342 points for his career and on top of Medford’s alltime list. He passed 1991 graduate Steve Russ, who is currently the linebackers coach for the NFL’s Washington Football Team and, at 6-6, dominated the paint against Lumberjack Conference foes in his three and a half years on the varsity squad from 1988-91.
“It was perfect,” Kuhn said. “It was a home game, Senior Night. I got just enough points where I could get it. So it was perfect.”
Kuhn started the year 15 points shy of 1,000 and hit that milestone quickly in the first half against Antigo on Dec. 4. He came into Friday’s game 20 points behind Russ. He took over the top spot in school history with 14:33 left in the game when he came off screens by Joe Sullivan and Brady Hupf to get a wideopen look that he said he knew was good when he let it go. At the time, it put Medford up 56-23.
“At the start of the year we didn’t know how many games we’d get, so we just wanted 1,000,” Medford head coach Ryan Brown said. “Then you saw him get closer and closer and it became, let’s just get it at home tonight, Senior Night. It’s such a testament to everybody. He’s been playing with these five guys for a decade. They love each other. They’re friends and they’ve made a lot of passes and screens for him to get points. I know the feeling’s mutual with all of them. It’s really a team accomplishment and an individual accomplishment at the same time.”
The team’s five seniors –– Kuhn, Brady Hupf, Ty Baker, Nate Retterath and Owen Wipf –– all contributed to Medford’s 17th victory of the season, which kept the Raiders atop the Great Northern Conference at 9-0 heading into Friday’s showdown at Rhinelander (7-1 in the GNC), where Medford can clinch a share of the conference cham Senior Night win over Hatchets
pionship with two more games to play.
“It’s really special,” Kuhn said of Medford’s season thus far. “I’ve been playing with some of these guys for so long. We’ve had a great team. I love all of them. We’re having a really good year. We’re going to keep going and go as far as we can. We always talked about how we were going to be out there one day, all together, and we were going to dominate. We’re doing pretty good.”
It took awhile in Friday’s matchup for the Raiders to break it open against the last-place Hatchets. A Mason Phalin 3-pointer tied the game at 8-8 and two Trey Baalke scores got the Hatchets within 17-12 midway through the first half.
But Medford wore the Hatchets down and pulled away in the next nine minutes.
Caleb Guden gave Medford a big boost off the bench with a couple of 3-pointers and eight points in the half. Joe Sullivan hit a pair of 3s and Kuhn added one. Baker and Kuhn scored directly off steals and Tomahawk’s top scoring threat, Drew Bolder, picked up his third foul just before halftime. The Raiders held him to just three points –– the first points of the game –– as he was hounded much of the night by Wipf and Guden. Medford led 48-21 at the break.
“We told Owen just get into (Bolder),” Brown said. “Owen was all over the place. He did a little bit of everything, whether it was getting a rebound, getting a deflection or knocking down an open 3. He did a nice job once where he caught it on a slip, stayed patient and kicked it out to Brigham Kelley for an open 3. All of these seniors, they’ve really worked hard and stuck with it. To see them out here having a season like this I’m just really proud of them.”
Kuhn added three assists and two rebounds on his big night. Hupf led Medford with 11 rebounds to go with five points. Retterath dished out a team-high five assists and had three rebounds and four points. Baker had five rebounds, two assists and six points. Wipf hit a 3-pointer and grabbed two rebounds while playing strong defense.
Guden finished with a varsity high 12 points and had four assists and five rebounds. He hit five of six shots from the field. Sullivan hit three of four 3s and finished with 15 points and two rebounds.
The game was Medford’s first without sophomore standout Logan Baumgartner, who badly sprained an ankle in practice last Wednesday.
“(Guden) was good. I told him the other day, with Logan going out, we’re going to need him,” Brown said. “We’re going to need Joey. We talked about it. We’re trying to make up 17 points, six rebounds, three steals, three assists. It can’t be one person. Everybody has to be looking for those opportunities. If you look at Joe and Chubs, what they did, hopefully they look to be aggressive that way moving forward because we have a lot of tough games we’re going to have to get through without Logan.”
Kelley hit two 3s to finish with six points and Tanner Hraby added five.
Tomahawk was led by 16 points and eight rebounds from its 6-5 senior Payton Bunce.
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